Goddess in the Echo
by MidniteBleuCrusader
Summary: (AU) A lost Planeptune, a Goddess denounced. Neptune seeks to find out the truth behind her lost landmass, as well as who was behind all this. With the help of Compa and IF, Neptune hopes to find all the answers, by any means necessary.
1. In My Remains

**Goddess in the Echo**

**By MidniteBleuCrusader**

Summary: (AU) A lost Planeptune, a Goddess denounced. Neptune seeks to find out the truth behind her lost landmass, as well as who was behind all this. With the help of Compa and IF, Neptune hopes to find all the answers, by any means necessary.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hyperdimension Neptunia or any of its characters.

Author's Notes: If you happen to have any sort of questions about what's going on and are confused, please don't be. It's an AU.

**Chapter 1: In My Remains**

When she looked at the damage, she was shocked, even for herself.

She watched as her clean vision of her own landmass, the glistening and shining Planeptune she knew, now being burnt down completely. Glass shattered out of the tall buildings due to fire attempting to burst out of it. She watched as the 120-inch screens started falling from their buildings, but worst of all, she watched as her own people, the people she was supposed to protect, run in fear, panic-stricken about what has transpired.

All Neptune could do was walking aimlessly through the broken streets of her own landmass and watch it all unfold in front of her.

"What in the world… what the Hell happened here?" She asked herself, continuing her aimless walk down the streets. As she walked, she felt the heat from the burning vehicles and buildings on one side of her. The other side felt debris of sharp glass falling on her. With her eyes wide open, she could only see the pure devastation in her eyes.

As she walked, she quickly noticed a civilian who had tripped at a crossroad. One thing came to another, and following him was a vicious monster; A Fenrir, to be exact, as it attempted to take a bite at him. The man pleaded and begged, but monsters couldn't understand human words. The monster tried to snap at the man, but in a quick second or two, Neptune slashed right through the monster with her sword, quickly dispatching it and killing it.

"L-Lady Purple Heart! Oh, thank the heavens you saved me!" The man thanked, but Neptune wasn't in the mood for praise.

"Get out of here. Find the nearest Sky Platform and get out of here. Lastation should be the nearest landmass you can go to!" Neptune instructed, prompting the man to scurry from his downed state and run for it. As for Neptune herself, she wasn't going to run. In fact, the monster she just killed only summoned more monsters ravaging the city to her location. More of them, ranging from fellow wolf monsters to Vorpals and even Hornets to her side. They were almost the garden-variety monsters to her. She found herself surrounded quickly by such monsters, but she wasn't about to cower in fear, not after what they've done to her Planeptune. "All right, you damned monsters. You want a piece of Lady Neptune? You've got another thing coming." She said, as she pointed her sword toward the monsters from every direction before assuming her fight stance.

The first wave of monsters came out from right in front of her, another wolf-type monster. Grinning, Neptune reeled her sword back, the tip touching the ground, waiting for the monsters to reach her. As soon as the first monster came close to her, she scraped the ground with her blade, slicing right through the first one. At the same time, an air-slash projectile sliced through the other monsters. She threw two more in an instant, killing them off with ease.

Now she had to deal with 3 more waves of enemies. The ones behind were all flying enemies; hornets, griffins and other flying enemies. "Heh, target practice." She quickly sheathed her blade and took out not only her standard gun, but she also had herself a custom-made revolver for herself. "Always wanted to dual-wield! Think I'll be that red-coat demon guy yet?" She said as she started firing away like it was target practice. One by one the flying enemies started to drop like flies. One of the griffin monsters attempted to swoop down at her, but Neptune, using her quickness, dodged the attack and managed to jump onto the monster and started riding it. "WOOHOOOOO! Yeah!" She used the griffin to pick off any other enemies with her gun, before slashing at the griffin she was riding on and nose diving it into the ground.

She looked around, and most of the monsters that were surrounding her were either dead or had run off after witnessing her power. There was only one left, and it was a huge Hydra type monster, the only one that stood its ground and didn't scurry away. Instead, it let out a loud bellow right in Neptune's face. Once it was done bellowing, Neptune only wafted the air in front of her. "Dude, two words. Breath mints." She insultingly said. The Hydra tried to take a swipe at it, but she quickly dodged it. She knew this monster well enough to know what its moves are. She'd seen it in various dungeons. This Hydra was no different. Once it took a few swipes at her, Neptune quickly ran up to it, jumped up at an angle and dropkicked it in the face, causing it to be stunned at the force of the kick. It soon recovered, turning its head toward Neptune, but she shoved her gun right into the mouth of the monster. "Go to Hell and take your nasty lizard skin with you!" She unloaded a full clip right into its mouth, killing it instantly. She quickly holstered her gun, looking at the damage she had caused. "Still got it, Neptune." She said. Then she looked at the direction of where the Sky Platform was. "I bet there's gonna be a lot of panicking people there. Better get there." She said, quickly rushing towards the Sky Platform.

Before she could, however, she realized something.

"…SHIT, HISTY!" She yelled to herself, quickly scurrying over to where the Planeptune Guild was before she left for the Sky Platform.

**0**

She managed to get there, but the building was up in flames.

She tried her best to get through the building as fast as possible, covering her face with her hand so as to not breathe in the smoke and any ashes as she constantly called out for Histoire's name. She managed to dodge some debris nearly falling on her due to the fire.

"HISTY! HISTY! Where are you! We gotta get out of here now!" She called out. Finally, she could hear a faint voice, so on instinct she quickly went over towards the direction of the voice. First thing she saw was a table. Quickly, she opened the drawer and there the tome was, in book form, nestled in the drawer. "Histy, thank God. What the hell happened here?"

"There is no time to explain, Neptune. As far as I know, you may need to use your powers again, though it may be too late now. Planeptune's destruction is imminent."

"I was afraid you'd say that. Okay, Histy, gimme back my powers for a while." Neptune requested.

"I would do that, but we should quickly adjourn to Lastation before the landmass leaves without us." Histoire said, and although Neptune wanted her to rush the process, she knew it was a bad idea to do it now. The building was going to fall at any minute.

"Okay, okay… wait, where's Compa and Iffy? I thought they were with you."

"I know, but they were away in the other landmasses when the attack began. We must quickly reunite with them. Our first priority is getting off Planeptune. I feel a great evil residing in this landmass alone." As Histoire was explaining, Neptune looked out the window of the office she was in. Suddenly, the sky turned completely blood red. The world she knew started to twist and turn in its own evil way.

"Histy, I don't think we've got time for any more explanations. We've got problems." Neptune said, as more monsters started spawning right in front of her. This time, they weren't the same as before. They looked more like broken humanoid soldiers with blades, all of them dripping some black ooze on them. "And where the Hell did you come from?" Neptune shouted at them, but it wasn't as if they would listen.

Even more strange was the ground started to shake. And suddenly, the building tilted sideways and she was sent sliding out towards the glass and to the ground. Neptune quickly shot the glass to break it, sliding out and landing on her two feet on top of a car. When she looked up, what she feared was true. Her own landmass was out to kill her for whatever reason.

"Neptune, quickly, we must head to the Sky Platform and escape Planeptune!"

"Don't need to tell me twice, Histy!" Neptune said, quickly running towards where the Sky Platform was. The landmass wasn't about to let her just do that, as the buildings started to close in by themselves to try to squash her, black thorns attempting to stab her and create more obstacles for her. Neptune's natural ability to run for it wasn't about to let these obstacles beat her. She jumped off a car and managed to land in a more open area, a clear path towards the Sky Platform and a way out. "All right, we should at least be able to get out of here now. This place has really gone to Hell."

"I agree, Neptune… but I'm afraid our escape may not be as easy as you expect it to be." Histoire said, as she pointed out what was right in front of her. A dark portal had opened, and slowly a dark silhouette approached Neptune. The silhouette looked exactly like Neptune, from the face to its figure.

"Histy, please explain what that is, because I have the sudden urge to go and kick its ass."

"Neptune, you mustn't fight that. That is a Nightmare. In your current state, you will not be able to defeat it." Histoire said. Neptune's Nightmare stood between the purple-haired girl and a way off the landmass.

"Not like I have a choice, Histy!" She quickly drew her blade out and pointed it at the Nightmare. "I'm giving you one chance to walk away, monster." The only response she got back was the Nightmare's blade being pointed right back at her. Neptune, with absolutely no time to waste, quickly rushed up towards the Nightmare and tried to slash it, only for the Nightmare to block it. Neptune kept hacking away at it, but there was no way through her defense. The Nightmare then pushed Neptune away and struck at her, attempting a horizontal slash on her stomach. Neptune managed to back away in time, only getting nicked a bit. "Gh, this monster's tough." Neptune once again tried to fight her, aiming slash after slash at her, but she just could not get through her. She eventually backed off trying to catch her breath.

"The Nightmare is too powerful for you right now. We must retreat immediately." Histoire advised. "And before you ask, transforming won't help either. A Nightmare is a manifestation of you. If you transform, it transforms with you."

"I hate it when you throw a catch like that in the middle of something like this, Histy." Neptune annoyingly said, pulling out her gun and shooting at the Nightmare, forcing it to pull out her own gun to fire back. It was as if every bullet Neptune fired at it kept colliding with the Nightmare's bullet. She ran around to try and shoot her from the back, but her opponent followed her throughout. "Geez, you are ANNOYING!" Neptune yelled, before grabbing her sword again and lunging forward attempting to outright stab her.

The Nightmare stood her ground, waiting for the strike, and when it did arrive, she blocked it and used the force to push Neptune off. She then quickly counter-attacked and attempted to slice her right down the middle.

She, however, didn't account that it was all part of Neptune's plan, as the purple-haired warrior quickly pulled her gun out again and this time, fired 3 quick shots right at its chest, stopping its actions. The Nightmare faltered, before falling onto her knees, and subsequently falling to the ground.

"…Okay, seriously, I thought I was done for there for a sec." She said, holstering her gun once again.

"Neptune, it isn't-"

"I know. I know it's not. Let's get to Lastation." Neptune said, quickly rushing towards the Sky Platform and leaving the Nightmare, and of course, her beloved yet destroyed Planeptune, behind.

**0**

They managed to get to the Sky Platform, but there was nothing but widespread panic with people frantically trying to get through, hoping to get off Planeptune as quickly as possible. Yet they were forced to wait, thanks to the military forcing them back and to keep order in the area.

When Neptune arrived, all eyes were easily averted right to her, and some of them tried to run up to her and ask her too many questions at a time. "Why is this happening?" "What's going on?" And the occasional "Lady Purple Heart, please save us!" were all cries from some of the citizens. '_Well, that just shows how much faith I actually have.'_ She thought to herself. She went up to one of the military staff and enquired.

"What's the hold up?"

"Lady Purple Heart, we've been dealt a serious hand here. One of the monsters cut the cable ties to Lastation, so traffic has been slow. We must get you out of here at once. That is our top priority." He said. Neptune, however, had other plans.

"Screw that. Get these people off this rock first. They're more important."

"But Lady Purple Heart, your safety is our top priority!" He said. Neptune wasn't in the mood for any arguments.

"LIKE I COULD GIVE A SHIT ABOUT MY SAFETY!" She yelled at him, forcing him to keep silent. "You get these people off this rock first. Do I make myself clear?" She said, aggravated. She managed to restrain herself from outright punching him. Out of fear, the soldier complied, rushing the civilians into the cable wasn't too amused at Neptune's current attitude though.

"That wasn't very nice, Neptune."

"Histy, I'm not in the mood. Whatever happened on this landmass… I want to know. Who called for an attack of this caliber, and what those… black creatures were." Neptune said, aggravated and peeved. Who could blame her, though? She just witnessed her own landmass, her own people, being ravaged by monsters. The city that she helped craft with the humans was destroyed right before her eyes.

"Yes, but that was no excuse to adopt an attitude to that man, Neptune." The purple-haired girl looked at Histoire, and then realized what she had done. She cursed, shouted and then outright told off the soldier.

"Oh, God, I almost sounded like Blanc for a sec… man, I am a mess."

"All you need is some good rest, Neptune. You'll feel better when you wake up the next morning. Maybe it will help you to think better." Histoire suggested. She was right. Neptune completely looked out of sorts from the moment she found out that her city was being attacked. Maybe rest would actually help her.

Her thoughts were halted when the last civilian made it in to the cable car. Neptune and Histoire quickly followed suit, getting on board. The sliding doors closed behind them, and quickly the cable car was moving to its destination; Lastation. Neptune couldn't help but to look around, as she saw a few panicked faces, worried sick about how life was going to be like now that they were forced to move to Lastation. _'Not much I can do about it now…'_ She thought to herself. Her eyes peered from side-to-side, turning her head to look, but there was no sign of the two people important to her.

'_Compa… Iffy… I hope you guys are all right.'_ She then looked at Histoire, wanting to ask her something. "Histy… how long would it take for you to find out who was responsible for the attack on Planeptune?"

"Depending on how much information I have to look through, it would take roughly 3 days to a maximum of 3 months." Neptune just gave an annoyed look to the tome.

"Gee, that's new. What about any information on those black creatures I saw earlier… and about the Nightmare."

"That, I can find quickly." Histoire said which brought a bit of a smile on Neptune's face. The smile only lasted for a few seconds, when she looked out the window of the cable car and saw the now completely destroyed landmass of Planeptune. She clenched her fist tight and crossed her heart, vowing to herself that one day she'll fix this place.

"Good, Histy… Tell me when we get to Lastation. I'll need it when we fight those things again."

**0**

**To Be Continued**

**0**


	2. Anti-Goddess

**Goddess in the Echo**

**By MidniteBleuCrusader**

Summary: (AU) A lost Planeptune, a Goddess denounced. Neptune seeks to find out the truth behind her lost landmass, as well as who was behind all this. With the help of Compa and IF, Neptune hopes to find all the answers, by any means necessary.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hyperdimension Neptunia or any of its characters.

Author's Notes: If you happen to have any sort of questions about what's going on and are confused, please don't be. It's an AU.

**Chapter 2: Anti-Goddess**

Everything had happened so fast.

Planeptune, once a land filled with hi-technology, clean environments and a bustling business, was completely destroyed by the monsters. Neptune did whatever she could to help any citizens in peril, but she couldn't stop her own landmass from being reduced to ashes.

There were, however, a few things that didn't make sense; the black demons that appeared temporarily, the city just moving on its own and trying to kill her, and of course, her own Nightmare showing up in Planeptune. Histoire managed to rush her search for such a monster and managed to gain information on it. Neptune remembered her words as it constantly played in her head.

Nightmares – The dark manifestation of one's negative power and energy. Its only purpose is to rid the original and take his or her place. It wasn't something to trifle with, Histoire said to her. Back on Planeptune, the Nightmare was absolutely way too powerful for Neptune and was close to killing her on more than one occasion.

The only question that Neptune had in her head was 'Why couldn't I even put a scratch on her?' The Nightmare matched her slash for slash and bullet to bullet. If it was a manifestation of negativity, she certainly couldn't remember any time where she was TOO negative.

Whatever the case, she knew she had to be better prepared the next time she had to fight her.

As for figuring out who was behind the attack, Neptune confirmed with Histoire again, but the tome reiterated that it would take at least 3 days to a maximum of 3 months of searching to find out. Neptune certainly wasn't going to wait that long for an answer.

When she got to Lastation, the other Planeptune refugees were quickly sheltered in the refugee camps that the Lastation Military Force had set up for them. Neptune, however, didn't want to go there. She sheltered herself in a quiet, non-exquisite hotel. The owners themselves were surprised to have the CPU of Planeptune stay in their hotel, but nevertheless were happy to house her. She couldn't get a wink of sleep that night. Too much had happened, too much for her to think about, too much for her to even get any sleep. She took a look at Histoire, who was sleeping on the tabletop. She could sleep easy. She didn't have to deal with any of this at all. Neptune decided to go over to her and wake her up. The Oracle for Planeptune's Guild stirred, rubbing her eyes.

"Ah, good morning, Neptune." She greeted.

"Morning, Histy… gosh, I just wanna forget about yesterday. It was just way too rough on my body. She spoke as she looked out the window. The industrial smell was in the air. This was definitely Lastation all right.

All these things that had happened to her were beginning to take its toll on her brain. Therefore, in order to get it off her chest, she needed for some way to make a statement. The people of Planeptune, and of course the other landmasses, would love to hear from Purple Heart herself. She just knew how to do that in Lastation.

With Histoire floating by her side, Neptune went down the stairs to the main lobby of the hotel, headed into the dining room for a spot of breakfast. It was but a small dining room, but the people there didn't mind, especially when Neptune walked in. She took her breakfast and sat on the seat nearest to the television on the wall. Thankfully, the LCD screens in Lastation were imported from Planeptune. _'At least Lady Noire did something right.'_ Neptune thought.

The morning show that played on TV was the Hi-Five News Show, a 2-hour news show in the morning slot. It was hosted by Neptune's old friend, Lyrica, but she was more commonly known as 5pb. They had travelled a lot together as a group and as such, she constantly kept in touch with her. It was nice to see her finally get over her anxiety issues and to appear on TV, instead of her usual radio show.

That's not to say she's stopped doing her radio show. She has a night slot on certain days for her radio shows and she still has random idol shows everywhere she goes.

The hotel owner, a slender young male, had come up to Neptune to share a few words with her, mostly saying that he too was devastated by what happened to Planeptune and sympathized with her."Thanks, it's nothing, really." "I'll be fine." She kept repeating these words to the people who kept coming up to her. She turned her attention to the television, where 5pb was presenting another report.

"In other news, a viral video has spread across the internet and has garnered over a million views on youtube and has been shared on social networking sites like facebook and twitter. There has been no source yet known of this video, but we do believe that it is from a rogue anti-goddess organization known as the Heretics Unit."

"Pfft… more crazies on the internet trying to get noticed." Neptune blew off as she chewed on her eggs.

"People will do anything to gain attention on the internet nowadays. It's more something you should get used to." Histoire agreed.

The screen switched from 5pb immediately to the mentioned video. It showed an image of what looked like a slender young woman, with long hair. However, two things, at least to Neptune and Histoire, immediately gave the identity of the woman away. Neptune nearly choked on her food when she saw.

Firstly, the blue nine-brand coat that was all too familiar and secondly, the green leafy bow tied on her hair.

"I-Iffy?" Neptune whispered under her breath. She didn't want the whole room to know who it was. She doubted anyone could know, considering that she was wearing a white mask to cover her face.

"Citizens of the landmasses," IF started to speak. Her voice, however, was unrecognizable. The audio was doctored enough such that it was veiled in static and rendered down to a more low-pitch and computerized voice. "It has begun. The attack on Planeptune was only the beginning. The enemy moves quickly into the night… or even in the day. This, citizens, marks the beginning of the end of all humans. I quote, 'All war is based on deception', and as of right now, you are being deceived. The demons may be walking amongst you and you may not know it. My message is simple, clear and just. Trust absolutely no one. You would not know whether the person standing beside you, the person you sit next to on the next cable car ride or the person you are ordering food form, may just be a demon." The picture immediately cut out with static before returning to 5pb.

Neptune sat at her dining chair, mixed emotions running in. She felt a bit flabbergasted, a bit perplexed but at the same time amused. Of course, the video was edited quite superbly, in the way the camera constantly pans in the video. '_She sure knows how to make a speech all right._' She thought. However, her words were meant to be taken seriously, as the reactions in the dining room could tell. She talked about these so-called demons and she had definitely experienced this first hand.

Now all that she needed to do was to find her.

**0**

Neptune started walking down a long road after breakfast. She cited it would be a good way to work off a big breakfast. Neptune wanted to head to 5pb News Network's Broadcast Station, where the Hi-Five News Show was being broadcasted from.

Neptune had talked about making an announcement to all the landmasses with Histoire, about what decisions she was going to make that day.

Histoire, however, wasn't so approving about what Neptune had planned at first, but after hearing the Goddess out, she agreed to it, albeit reluctantly. The aftershock of Planeptune's attack was a definite talking point amongst people everywhere. Journalists had been writing about it, politicians were staging mass debates of the current situation and were thinking of ways to learn from this attack, and even punters were putting up odds on which landmass would be the next one to go.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Neptune? This will make your own people upset and lose faith in you."

"What I'm planning on doing next, I don't need faith. Besides, what good will it be to be a Goddess of a landmass that's uninhabitable now?" Neptune said as she kept walking towards the broadcast tower. Ever since the cable car ride, all the way to her sleepless nights in Lastation, she had been thinking about what she was planning to do. What better way to tell the masses now than to the media?

IF would've probably said the same thing to Neptune.

**0**

Another tiring day of work done, thought the staff of the morning show in 5pb News Network. Everyone was about to clock off, and the director had told them they did an excellent job once again. 5pb on the other hand was arranging her papers, papers filled with all sorts of information, and putting them away in a docket. Smartly dressed in a red office blouse and skirt, she looked at her laptop and started to search the news for it.

"IF, I knew that was you in that video…" She murmured to herself. 5pb was part of the travelling group that also consisted of both IF and Neptune, so she knew that IF was behind the video. She just didn't want to reveal it. Reporters never reveal their sources, as the old saying goes, and that meant she couldn't just rat out one of her former colleagues to the masses just like that. Her concentration was interrupted when her cell phone rang. She quickly fished into her bag and pulled it out, answering it. "Hello?"

"Ms. Lyrica, there someone to see you now and you will not believe who it is!" The ever-cheery voice belonged to the young, business-savvy Gust. She had to find work as a part-time secretary for 5pb, but she still does alchemy from time to time.

"Heh, okay, Gust. I'll come down now. Would you mind leading her into my office for me?" She said. Gust agreed to do so, as she hung up the phone and quickly collected her things, packing it into her briefcase and quickly heading back to her office. Taking the direct elevator to the staff offices and being the only one in, she reached her destination quite quickly, heading straight to her office where her secretary, Gust, greeted her. She took a few steps to open her office door.

Lo and behold, there sat Neptune, not on the visitor's chair, but on her own chair, feet on the table, munching on a sweet that was on the table. "Yo, 5pb! Been a while, eh?"

"Yes, it has, Lady Neptune. Though, would you be so kind as to get off my chair?" She asked politely.

"Listen, I need a favor from you. So I need you to listen and listen good."

"You know, when I asked Gust to let you in here, I specifically told her NOT to let you sit in my chair." 5pb pointed out again.

"So if I got off, would you listen?"

"Yes, Lady Neptune, I would." Promptly, Neptune got off 5pb's chair and sat at the visitor's chair, whereas 5pb made her way around the table to sit on her own chair, but not before fluffing up the soft pillow that Neptune had been sitting on. She took her seat and spoke. "First of all, it's good to hear you're still okay. What I heard about Planeptune was absolutely disastrous."

"That's what I came to you to talk about, Lyrica." She slowly eased in, her face closer to the idol's face. "I want to make a formal announcement to everyone in the landmasses. I'm sure the people and the media would LOVE to know what Lady Neptune thinks about the Planeptune attack." A smile quickly beamed on 5pb's face, as she quickly knew the answer.

"Well, I do have a working afternoon timeslot for you. I could definitely ask the director to add in a special interview with Planeptune's CPU to get her views and any updates on the current situation, as well as your aforementioned announcement… What's it going to be, anyway?"

"I can't tell you now." Neptune answered, taking another sweet from Lyrica's bowl of sweets. "It's something that's going to definitely shock the world, that's for sure."

"Then I'll be looking forward to it, Lady Neptune."

**0**

Advertisements spread like wildfire. The word was out rather quickly to the masses. The day after Neptune's meeting with Lyrica, the word had gotten out that there would be an exclusive interview with Planeptune's CPU.

It definitely gave reason for the landmasses to start buzzing again.

It became the talk of all the landmasses. They were skeptical at first, but now everyone wanted to hear what Neptune had to say on that exclusive interview.

The 5pb Exclusive Hour aired only once in a blue moon. There, she would have only the most prestigious of guests to arrive and speak to her on the latest happenings with their guest. Today's guest was Neptune, and Lyrica was sure she would prepare a lengthy amount of questions for her guest, all linking up to Planeptune's attack. Of course, she would have to end the show with Neptune's announcement to the world.

Lyrica was quickly dressed up in her usual presenter's clothing, dark blue office top and grey inner-shirt accompanied with grey pants and high heels, whereas Neptune, just arriving on the set, was in her usual outfit. She didn't mind not being too pretty under the lights. She didn't want to play dress-up on a serious occasion like this.

Backstage, she looked at Histoire, thinking about this decision she was going to make. It was definitely too late to back out now, Histoire reminded her, and her decision was definitely going to cause a stir in the landmasses.

This was a personal one-to-one interview, but it would be broadcasted live to every television in all the landmasses.

The director gave the okay once everyone was in position, the cameraman signaled that the tape was rolling, and the Exclusive Hour began.

"Good afternoon, everyone." 5pb greeted, calmly. "As you all have learnt from the terrible attacks on Planeptune, things have turned for the worst. Not to mention, the anti-goddess group, the Heretics Unit, is out at large as well. Today, we speak to someone we truly have needed to hear from. Ladies and gentlemen, Lady Purple Heart." The light shone brightly above Neptune's head, spotlighting her. She remained silent until 5pb asked a question. "Now, Lady Purple Heart, I think we all definitely need to hear from you. What really happened on Planeptune?"

"Well," Neptune started speaking. "It would be a bit too grim to just go out and say what happened in my eyes… but I'll only say this. Planeptune was ravaged when I was walking through. I helped get the civilians out as fast as I could while I stood back to keep the monsters away."

"That's very noble of you, Lady Purple Heart. I'm sure you will do whatever it takes to fight back for your landmass."

"Exactly, I'll do whatever I can to get Planeptune back where it belongs, even if I have to build it from the ground up again with my own two hands." Neptune said confidently.

"I see. Now, let's get into some pressing matters for a second here. What do you think about the Heretics Unit?" Neptune took a breather to think about this question. She, and most likely 5pb, knew that the masked person on the Heretic Unit's videos were IF, but she didn't want to rat out her friend at all. Instead, she tried to make a more 3rd-person opinion, acting as if she didn't know IF at all.

"All I can say about the Heretics Unit and their videos on the internet is that, they're just a bunch of crazies on the internet trying to seek attention and spread propaganda on the internet. It'll never get through to the people." Neptune said, almost purposely sounding mean.

"I would have to agree with that, Lady Purple Heart." 5pb said, adding to Neptune's sentiments. "Now I hear that you have an announcement to make to the people of the landmasses, Lady Purple Heart. The floor is all yours."

This was it. Neptune took another breath of air, her heart pounding because she was absolutely nervous about announcing her decision to the world. She did, however, remain resolute. It was way too late to chicken out now. She knew the consequences of her decision, but it doesn't matter to her.

"Yes, that's right…" She looked directly at the camera for this. "Ladies and gentlemen of all the landmasses… Planeptune may be gone for now, but I assure you, I will do whatever it takes to get Planeptune back to where it belongs." She paused for a bit before continuing. "However… there is no point for there to be a person like me to be a Goddess of a landmass that's been destroyed. I will get Planeptune back… but not as your Goddess. As of today… I'm officially tendering my resignation as Goddess of Planeptune."

Neptune, right after she said that, took any microphone off her body, and simply walked out of the place.

It left the entire room at a standstill. It was official.

Neptune quite certainly had left the whole world shell-shocked.

**0**

**To Be Continued**

**0**


	3. Sharpest Lives

**Goddess in the Echo**

**By MidniteBleuCrusader**

Summary: (AU) A lost Planeptune, a Goddess denounced. Neptune seeks to find out the truth behind her lost landmass, as well as who was behind all this. With the help of Compa and IF, Neptune hopes to find all the answers, by any means necessary.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hyperdimension Neptunia or any of its characters.

Author's Notes: If you happen to have any sort of questions about what's going on and are confused, please don't be. It's an AU.

**Chapter 3: Sharpest Lives**

The headlines spread to all the landmasses rather quickly.

"CPU of Planeptune resigns" "Neptune quits!" "No More Lady Purple Heart?" These headlines constantly made their way to the reader's eyes, ears and mouths, depending on what media of news they were hearing. Basically, anyone who gave a damn about the news definitely knew about the announcement that has caused uproar in the landmasses.

Not like Neptune regretted it or anything.

The day after she walked off the set of the Exclusive Hour, she holed herself up in her room, reading pleading tweets from twitter on her N-Gear. People of the landmasses were talking all about her and responding to what she said in the interview. Though some may have accepted it rather quickly, others have gone completely outraged by it. Neptune could only smile at their reactions.

"Wow, people really are up in arms, huh?"

"You got the reaction you want now, Neptune." Histoire said, reading the tweets with Neptune.

"Good. Now people will start leaving me alone, which is the perfect time to put my plan into action then." Neptune said, which made the tome all the more curious.

"And what is this so-called plan of yours, Neptune?" She asked, as Neptune started to pack up.

"Simple. I'm going back to Planeptune and get my landmass back from the demons." Neptune boldly stated, leaving Histoire in a state of shock and was flabbergasted at it.

"T-That's suicide, Neptune! You weren't even at full strength, or even for that matter fully focused, to take down those demons or your own Nightmare! If you go back now, you will surely die!"

"Well, do you have a better idea, Histy? I'm open to any and all suggestion right about now!" Neptune snapped back, but before Histoire could give her rebuttal, the N-Gear beeped. She took a look at it to notice that she got a message. "…5pb? What's she doing sending a message to me before work?" She said, opening it with a single click.

The message simply read, "You need to see this. I'm showing this to the masses on today's show." It linked to a video, which with Neptune's curiosity she immediately clicked to view. She clicked a button to full-screen the video to get a good look.

It was yet another video from the Heretics Unit, IF once again at the center of the video. IF started to speak, once again in that computerized voice.

"Citizens of the landmasses, the time has come. Purple Heart's resignation only means one of two things. The first, and perhaps most true and logical, is that she has not even bothered to fight back. The second, now with the proof of her resignation, is that even the Goddesses themselves are powerless to stop the demons. This is a message to Purple Heart. The demons will follow you wherever you go, no matter where you are… any place you go will become a danger zone. You have been warned." The video then cut off.

"They'll follow me wherever I go? Damn, that means Lastation's in trouble." She said, closing the video. She then received yet another message on her N-Gear. This time, however, it was a close friend.

Lastation's CPU, Noire, AKA Lady Black Heart, messaged her, telling her to meet her at the Basilicom. She wanted to talk.

"An audience with Black Heart, Neptune?" Histoire asked.

"Yeah. Looks like my decision caused a stir even with the other CPUs. All right, Noire… Let's go have a little chit-chat."

**0**

Lastation's Basilicom, just like any other Basilicom, was rather lavish and clean. Neptune took a seat on one of the long chairs, her legs crossed, arms spread on the chair. She'd been waiting rather impatiently for about 15 minutes. In those 15 minutes, she'd been observing some busy movements, from the Sanctified themselves hustling to get from one place to another, to the citizens who pray and worship Black Heart. Neptune could see from the worshipper's expressions. They were frightened, frightened that their home could turn into Planeptune and be wiped out. _'At least you guys don't have to worry about them…'_ She thought.

One of the Sanctified finally made his way to Neptune to address her. "I apologize for making you wait, Lady Purple H-"

"Neptune. I'm not a Goddess anymore, remember?" She snapped.

"R-right, Lady Neptune. Lady Black Heart will speak with you."

"About damn time." Neptune said. With Histoire floating beside her, Neptune followed as the former Goddess made her way into the CPU Chambers.

There, Noire stood, back turned towards Neptune, looking out at her vision of her landmass. It wasn't as clean as Planeptune, but she was content with it. All this talk about future-proofing finally paid off.

Neptune and Noire have had too much history together. The countless fights they've had back on Celestia, and even in the human world. Everything came to a head when they had to help each other take down Arfoire. Although it was Neptune who gave the finishing blow, Noire was given an assist. One could even say that Neptune and Noire were like sisters… although, bickering and at each other's throats half the time.

"Lady Black Heart, your visitors are here."

"Okay, you may take your leave." She replied, letting the Basilicom Worker leave before speaking to Neptune and Histoire. "Histy, where in the tome does it state that Neptune is a blithering idiot?"

"Well, thanks for the welcome, Noire." The CPU of Lastation turned right around to face the two, approaching them.

"I don't know what you were thinking, Neptune, but this has got to be the most foolish thing you've ever done. Denouncing yourself as Goddess? You sound like you've given up!" This only put a smile on Neptune's face.

"Haha! Histy, did you hear that? Lastation's CPU is actually concerned about me! I feel a bit honored." The nonchalance easily grated on Noire's nerves and she grabbed Neptune by the collar. "Whoa, easy there tiger!"

"Do you think I'm joking with you, Neptune?" Noire exclaimed.

"Hey, chill out. Everything is according to the plan I have in motion. In fact, I was on my way back to Planeptune before you decided to call me."

"You know as well as I do. THAT is a suicide job." Noire said, letting go of Neptune and letting out a heavy sigh. "Your little announcement is making everyone think that the Goddesses can't do anything to prevent whatever happened on Planeptune from happening here

"Yeah, and it's going to get worse after the morning show today."

"Yes, I know. The Heretics Unit's 2nd video. 5pb sent me that too… which means the demons are coming to Lastation, aren't they?" Noire asked.

"If we're to trust them, then yes, but it's not like you and I can't take them. The only thing we have to worry about is if the Nightmare shows up." Neptune told her. Of course, she didn't want to mention that the leader was a friend of hers. Noire would be automatically suspicious of her. She quickly tried to segue into something else, something that was more important on her mind. "Well, since you called me up here, there's something I wanted to talk to you about." She said, holding onto Noire's shoulders. For some reason, she felt a bit uncomfortable in Neptune doing this.

"W-what is it?"

"I am on a hunt to find out who was behind the monster attack and the demons showing up on Planeptune. I have a whole list of suspects on my mind right now… and one of them is you." This made Noire flinch in shock.

"W-What? I have nothing to do with those attacks! Why would I even send out monsters or even demons to attack you?"

"See, I'm looking not at the method, but more of the intent." Noire felt a bit offended and shoved Neptune away.

"What intent would I have to use monsters and demons to attack Planeptune?" She glared right at Neptune. "If I wanted to attack Planeptune, I'd do it myself if I had to!"

"Now there's the vicious little Black Heart I know. As far as I know, you of all people would benefit greatly from Planeptune's destruction." Neptune said, but it only served to stoke Noire's anger and forcing her to transform into her CPU form and snap right at Neptune with her blade.

Neptune transformed in response and met Black Heart's blade with her own, forcing a deadlock.

"You really, really, REALLY, piss me off, Neptune!" She grumbled.

"Good, you wouldn't pose much of a challenge if you weren't." Neptune replied, using her strength to shove Black Heart off of her. Using that recovery time, Neptune quickly rushed her opponent and let out a series of slashes at her. Black Heart blocked the slashes and attempted to blindside her with a wide horizontal slash. Neptune ducked right under it, punching Black Heart in the stomach and quickly pinning her against the wall with her blade. Black Heart was fortunate to have her own blade right in between blocking Neptune's to avoid it reaching her throat. "How are you gonna prove your damn innocence then, Black Heart?"

"Tch! I just said I'd rather do it myself if it came to that! I'm telling you the truth here!" She yelled, shoving her off this time, strong enough to send her sliding.

"Gh… that doesn't mean anything!" Neptune yelled back, priming for another strike, but Histoire cut in.

"Neptune… she may be right. There's no reason for Lastation's CPU to attack Planeptune." Neptune just smirked after Histoire cut her off.

"I know, I can tell. I just needed an excuse to fight Noire again." Neptune explained, before rushing in and attempting to strike Black Heart.

"Then I need an excuse to stop me from killing you, Neptune!" She declared, lunging at Neptune. The both of them met right in the center, crossing blades, glaring each other down.

"Heh, this is what it feels like. Two CPUs fighting each other. It's been a while, hasn't it, Noire?" Neptune said.

"Yes, it has! This experience is gonna be even better once I beat you!" In a fit of anger, Black Heart managed to shove Neptune away, reeling her blade back and throwing it hard enough to force it to spin radically quickly towards Neptune. She blocked it and forced it upward, all according to Black Heart's plan. She flew straight up to catch it and attempted to smash down on her.

However, Neptune's experience played in her hand as she flew up to meet her in the air, and as Black Heart tried to smash down on her, Neptune jumped up and met her in the air, deadlocking once again. The fight kep going even in the air, as both fighters let out raging slash after raging slash at each other in a bid to win.

The both of them ended off their bout with a strong slash each, clashing once again. The impact of their last hit sent both of them crashing back down to Earth.

"Tch… we're too evenly matched for our own good, Neptune!" Black Heart exclaimed.

"Heh… you're right. At least I know you're still capable of fighting. I guess the Unit's video hasn't shaken you as a CPU." Neptune said, resting the blade on her own shoulder. "That's good, because the demons are right at our doorstep." Neptune said, pointing right outside. Black Heart looked out the window and lo and behold, the ominous red sky was ever present in Lastation.

"Well… that escalated rather quickly."

"Let's go save the people. With two CPUs, there's no way we're letting these demons destroy your landmass like they did mine, Noire." Neptune assured, which gave Noire a reason to smirk.

"I'm not letting those pesky demons destroy my landmass." Black Heart said, picking up her blade and walking past the purple CPU. "Let's go kill some demons, Neptune."

"I thought you'd never ask." She said, as she walked side-by-side with her CPU companion.

**0**

**To Be Continued**

**0**


	4. Accustomed to Tragedy

**Goddess in the Echo**

**By MidniteBleuCrusader**

Summary: (AU) A lost Planeptune, a Goddess denounced. Neptune seeks to find out the truth behind her lost landmass, as well as who was behind all this. With the help of Compa and IF, Neptune hopes to find all the answers, by any means necessary.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hyperdimension Neptunia or any of its characters.

Author's Notes: If you happen to have any sort of questions about what's going on and are confused, please don't be. It's an AU.

**Chapter 4: Enemy Lines**

The ominous red sky had finally caught up to Neptune, and the demons have finally shown themselves in Lastation.

The CPUs have confirmed that the demons would not go near the Basilicom.

It didn't matter though. Both Neptune and Black Heart decided to take matters into their own hands meeting the demons head on.

"Hey, doesn't this scene look a bit familiar?" Neptune asked.

"Yeah, kinda feels like us fighting monsters. Only this time it's demons." She said, tapping her blade on the ground, and then pointing it at the demons. "Which one of you fools wanna be first, huh?"

"None of them, Noire. Look at their eyes." Neptune said, pointing it out. Sure enough, the demons seemed fixated on Neptune and not on Black Heart.

"Tch… and here I was ready to fight."

"You'll be happy to know there'll be demons in the city. I'll stay here and guard the Basilicom. You get your citizens out of the city and to a safe place." Neptune suggested. Black Heart nodded, quickly dashing towards the city. Neptune stayed behind as planned. "I'm not Planeptune's Goddess anymore, but I won't let whatever happened on Planeptune happen here, not if I can help it, you demon pieces of shit." She said.

The first few demons that rushed up to here were quickly dispatched and rather stylishly at that, as she slashed two of them, then launching another two into the air before shooting at them both with her two guns. The next wave of enemies came rushing in and tried to attack her, but they too fell quickly "You wanna keep coming at me, demons? You're messing with an anti-Goddess." She proclaimed. She kept slashing and killing demons as they came towards her, stopping to look into the distance. "Noire, really hope you're doing your job!"

**0**

Black Heart sped down from the Basilicom all the way to the city. Sure enough, the city was in widespread panic. The demons had already started attacking and Black Heart wasn't going to let this happen. She reached the city square and cleared off any demons in her path. It didn't go unnoticed. The demons started to converge to her location. "Finally got your attention, you stupid demons? Good. You'll all rue the day you decided to mess with the CPU of Lastation AND her landmass!" She said as she pointed her blade at the demons.

The demons that gathered near Black Heart were of all shapes and sizes, all of them carrying different weaponry. There were the normal demons that carried blades and a few of them carrying chainsaws. Black Heart looked at them and grinned. They were in for it, she thought. They were messing with the 2nd strongest Goddess in Gamindustri. She didn't waste any time, not waiting for the demons to get close to her. Any of the demons that were remotely close to her would be cut down, no matter what size they were. However, she started having trouble with the bigger demons, as she couldn't simply slice through the tough skin of the demon. "Geez, aren't you annoying!" She said as she jumped right over it and cut it right down the middle, right on its back this time. It worked, as it slowly split in half before exploding into a black bloody mess. She flipped her hair just to taunt them.

"Next, please."

Her challenge was accepted. She heard dark portals opening behind her. She turned around to see 3 samurai-like demons all the more ready to strike at her. Black Heart coolly got her blade ready. The demons then rushed at her at blinding speeds right into their own separate teleporters. She looked around trying to find them, at the same time trying to guess where the samurais would appear again. When the 3 teleporters reappeared again, 2 were right in front of her while the last one was right behind her. She waited and analyzed her situation. Were they going to attack all at once, or were they going to come out one at a time? Or even a 2-1 attack? Whatever situation that was going to come about, she was going to be ready for it.

Sure enough, the two samurais came in flying from the portals in front and tried to slash at her. Black Heart quickly jumped, back flipping and almost as quickly came crashing down on both of them with her Volcanic Dive move. She managed to kill them off in time before the third one appeared behind her. It reached her, but Black Heart turned quickly to block its strike, shoving it off of her. "You got some REAL nerve attacking me from the back, you damned demon!" She yelled at it. The demon held its blade firmly, yet defensively. She glared right at it and stepped forward without any sort of fear. She gripped her blade tight as she did. The demon carefully stepped forward as well. The moment they took the first step, both competitors suddenly moved at near-blinding speeds. They clashed blades, but Black Heart definitely had the upper hand, as her strength caused the demon to constantly be on the defensive. Ultimately, she managed to get behind the demon and outright stab it in the back, causing a huge mess of black blood to spew out from it, some if it hitting Black Heart's face.

Once it fully dissipated, she turned right around to see yet another portal materializing. She was more than ready for what was going to step out of the portal.

The shadowy figure slowly stepped out of its portal, and what she saw didn't come up as a surprise for her.

"So… you're my Nightmare."

**0**

Neptune, on the other hand, wasn't having too much of a difficult time dealing with demons on her end. She was more concerned about the citizens of Lastation rushing for the Basilicom, and she didn't want any of them to get hurt. "Get to the Basilicom! Hurry up!" She commanded the citizens, as she dealt with the demons and defending the citizens. The Sanctified were working hard to usher people in as quick as they can. Once that was done, Neptune focused her attention on the demons as she kept calling them one by one as they came at her.

Though now she was thinking. How long will it take before her Nightmare would show up to fight her?

Lo and behold, the dark portal she had seen on Planeptune materialized in front of her. The shadowy figure slowly came out of the portal, this time in the form of Neptune's CPU form. "Finally decided to show yourself, huh? This time I'm more than ready to take you down." The Nightmare, being the mimic that she is, only copied Neptune's fight stance, hovering above the ground. "I hate looking at that face," She said as she prepared herself. "It looks a lot like me." She said.

In the City Center, Black Heart was facing her own Nightmare. "You must be what Neptune warned me about." She mumbled to herself. It had been a good 2 minutes, but the Nightmare did not attack. It had been hovering in position but did not make any sudden movements. Black Heart was left perplexed. "Is she… going to attack or what?" She decided to step forward towards the Nightmare. It only kept glaring her down as she moved forward. When Black Heart was close to the Nightmare, it dropped its attacking stance. She then came close to embracing it. "You aren't… bad, are you?" The Nightmare shook its head slightly, confirming that they were able to communicate with other humans, or Goddesses for that matter. "Nightmares are just bad dreams by definition, right? I wonder what sort of bad dream you have for me?" She said, before taking its hand and closing her eyes. The Nightmare then started to infuse with Black Heart.

Suddenly, time went slow.

At the Basilicom, Neptune kept her own Nightmare for a while, until she turned to see that time had slowed down. She was then blinded by a bright light, in which she responded by covering her eyes quickly. When it was done, she noticed her surroundings. The red sky was replaced with a clearer, dark blue sky, and Lastation looked like it was normal again.

The worst part for Neptune was when she looked at her Nightmare. It was truly what she thought it was… a complete and total nightmare. The brown witch's clothing, the hat, the weapon she was using was all too familiar to her.

"Y-you… no… YOU'RE my Nightmare? T-that can't be…!" She exclaimed, at a loss for words now.

"Surprised… Neptune?" I'll see you next time… when you finally decide to accept me." The Nightmare said with an ever foreboding tone, before completely disappearing in front of her.

"HEY, WAIT!" She called out, but it was too late. She looked over the horizon from where she was standing. From what she could see, the demons had suddenly stopped moving. The red sky that was looming above her completely turned into a clear night blue sky. It felt completely strange to her, but she had to ask herself. What happened to this place now, or more importantly, what's going to happen to this place?

Then, she realized.

"Ah, shit, I forgot about Noire." She quickly sped down to where Black Heart was, but not before pondering about what she just saw. Yet, even then, she couldn't believe it was HER of all people. "I can't believe you would have the gall to come back… Arfoire."

**0**

**To Be Continued**

**0**


	5. Holding Company

**Goddess in the Echo**

**By MidniteBleuCrusader**

Summary: (AU) A lost Planeptune, a Goddess denounced. Neptune seeks to find out the truth behind her lost landmass, as well as who was behind all this. With the help of Compa and IF, Neptune hopes to find all the answers, by any means necessary.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hyperdimension Neptunia or any of its characters.

Author's Notes: If you happen to have any sort of questions about what's going on and are confused, please don't be. It's an AU.

**Chapter 5: Holding Company**

Neptune went straight for the city centre where Black Heart was supposed to be. When she reached the place, the demons were still there, frozen in place. It felt completely surreal to her, seeing the demons stuck in place like this. They weren't going to be the problem. She had to find Black Heart though and make sure she was safe. Still in her CPU form, she searched for her quickly, and she needed to get to her before something REALLY bad had happened to her. She took a look around, her eyes peeled for her Goddess companion. A few minutes and she managed to locate her at a clearing. She quickly sped down to meet with her. "Noire! Am I glad to see you! Listen, we have to get out of here before…"

"Neptune, get back." Black Heart warned off. "This is going to look ugly. I mean it." She said. Neptune looked ahead of Noire, and saw something that she didn't really want to see.

What Black Heart and Neptune saw was a completely ravaged and devastated wasteland known as Lastation. "What the hell?"

"I… know." Black Heart replied, a bit devastated herself. "This… apparently… is my Nightmare."

"Wait… what?" Neptune replied, mixture of shock and puzzlement in her voice.

"Yeah, Neptune… this is my Nightmare… and it's going to be inevitable, at the rate I'm going at least." She said as she gripped her blade tight. "Come on, we should explore this place." Black Heart moved forward, Neptune following in tow, though she was still a bit puzzled. Why was Lastation suddenly destroyed? Didn't they do just enough to keep the demons at bay? She had to ask this though.

"Wait, what did you mean by 'this is your Nightmare'?" Black Heart stopped in her tracks, turning around to look at Neptune. She then just dropped her head as she went towards her, holding onto her shoulders… before letting a tear drop from her eyes.

"This… with the way that I lead Lastation, this is the harsh reality that I may face in the near future, Neptune. I've been such a horrible CPU… a horrible Goddess at that, this may just happen to me someday. The humans believe in me, but what have I done for them? That's why this is my Nightmare… seeing Lastation destroyed, either by demons… monsters… the fact of the matter is, Lastation's destruction is because of my lack of leadership, and I've been seeing this in MY dreams the whole time… I just… didn't want to see it anymore." She said, in a near-remorseful tone. It didn't take long for Neptune to comfort her. The harsh reality that Noire had to take in had finally sunk in, and she most likely had to endure this every night she slept. It took only Neptune a few seconds to realize this.

It also took her that short of a time to realize why she saw Arfoire.

She didn't have much time to ponder about it though. Right now, she had to stop Black Heart from absolutely breaking down right in front of her. "Noire, snap out of it. All this isn't real. Think of it as nothing but an apparition… you know, like a bad dream! Noire, we'll make sure this doesn't happen. This will not become reality, you hear me? Now snap out of it." She said, shaking her out of her slump and calming her partner down. Once she did, Black Heart turned right around, wiping her tears away.

"T-thanks… b-b-but it's not like I needed you to tell me that or anything, Neptune! I-I just need your support for the time being, that's all." Black Heart said. Neptune responded with just a sigh of relief seeing one of her friends returning to her usual self again. "Come on. If anything, we'll get our answers at the Basilicom… or at least what's left of it." She took the lead, moving forward towards where the Basilicom would be.

**0**

They reached the Basilicom. From the outside, the building was still intact, surprisingly. "Man, demons sure are picky about what they destroy." Neptune commented, which earned her a look from Black Heart. As the two Goddesses went in, standing right in the middle of it was yet another ominous figure.

Noire's Nightmare was floating above ground, in Goddess form. Her ominous aura and shadowy figure would usually be enough to cause one's spine to chill. She started speaking. "So… do you see now? The cruel fate that awaits you and your precious landmass? All because of your failure to lead your people?"

"Now that's just rude." Neptune commented, but Black Heart kept her quiet.

"Yes, I see it… but I'm not planning to accept it as my future." She denied, gripping onto her blade hard.

"And you think you alone can curb this bleak future?" The Nightmare spoke again. "In the way that you yourself have run your own landmass, I highly doubt it." Just as Black Heart was about to speak, Neptune interjected.

"She isn't alone," She said, crossing her arms. "She has the other Goddesses—her FRIENDS for that matter—to help lead her away from that stray path. In other words, she's not letting someone like you alter her path in her life."

"N-Neptune…" Neptune moved right next to Black Heart and glared the Nightmare down.

"In other words… destroyed Lastation? We're not letting it happen. You are nothing more than a Nightmare, a bad dream people get in their sleep. You. AREN'T. REAL!" Neptune instantly grabbed her blade and rushed the Nightmare, swinging right at it the moment she came close to contact. Right when the sword reached it, the Nightmare drew its sword and clashed right with her. Neptune and the Nightmare kept clashing over and over again, and as Neptune went in for a hard strike, the Nightmare dissipated right before the strike hit her, reappearing behind her.

"Useless." The Nightmare then elbowed her in the back, then grabbing her by the back of the neck and throwing her straight into the wall. The Nightmare then focused on the now charging Black Heart. It stood its ground, waiting for Black Heart's strike. Once she struck, it constantly kept parrying every single strike Black Heart gave to it, to the point they clashed right in the center. The Goddess glared at her dark self, who only smirked at her. "The more you deny me, the stronger I get… and the easier it is for me to kill you!"

"I'm not denying, but that destiny you foresee now? Screw that." She said as she shoved her silhouette off, grabbing her gun and shooting at her. The Nightmare quickly dodged it, but didn't account for Neptune being right there as she dodged.

"Hi there." Neptune said, as she grabbed the Nightmare by her throat and pinned her to the ground. The Nightmare slipped out by turning into a shadow and slipping away, only rematerializing quite a distance in front of the Goddesses.

"You fools… you will both die here!" The Nightmare yelled, letting out a loud battle cry. It served to make her stronger as her dark aura started to emanate even more.

"Okay, you're starting to annoy me now." Neptune said, rejoining Black Heart who's dusting herself off.

"She's annoying me too. Say…" Black Heart looked at Neptune. "What say we do this like how we did in the old days when a tough monster tried to bring us down? I suddenly feel motivated to do it." Black Heart proposed, bringing a rather wide smile to the face of Neptune. She faked a gasp for dramatic effect, as only she knew what that meant.

"Noire! You can't be thinking THAT move! You said it was highly suicidal AND could kill us both!"

"IF it's timed wrong, Neptune, THEN it's highly suicidal. Timed right, though…" The both of them turned to glare at the Nightmare, both their swords pointing right at her.

"The enemy would wish that they begged for death." Black Heart smirked, crossing her blade with Neptune's.

"Let's go wreck this Nightmare." Neptune declared, and suddenly the two Goddesses dashed right for the Nightmare. It stood its ground, but Neptune's speed allowed her to get right behind her. She quickly launched the Nightmare up high into the air. "All yours, Noire!" She called out. As if on cue, Noire came flying in and slashed at the Nightmare mercilessly from all directions.

She made one final slash through before calling out, "Neptune, do it!"

"Don't have to tell me twice, Noire!" She replied, continuing the combo by slashing right through her a total of 20 times. She flew in for one last slash, reeling her blade back before letting fly with her final slash. As the Nightmare fell, Neptune landed right next to Black Heart. "Huh… for a second there, I thought there was one more move in that combo."

"Oh, you mean this?" Black Heart quickly snapped her fingers, and the Nightmare suddenly felt as if she was slashed 50 more times.

"Just like old times." She said, as the Nightmare fell flat on her back, completely beaten. "Well, what're you waiting for? You should go check on your own Nightmare." Neptune gestured, pushing Black Heart right towards her downed Nightmare. Black Heart knelt down the moment she reached it.

"You… cannot… change this…!" The Nightmare said, her voice nearly completely gone, but Black Heart placed a finger on her lips.

"Sure… I can't really change what's going to happen to Lastation, but that doesn't mean it's going to happen anytime soon, right?" She told her Nightmare. "If it's meant to happen, it's gonna happen, but as long as I'm the CPU of Lastation, until the very day this crummy destiny… I will do whatever I can to prevent it." She said, assuring the Nightmare. This led to the Nightmare shutting its eyes, reassured by her hostess. It slowly dissipated into golden dust and fused with Black Heart. She felt a feeling of warmth as it fused with her. She extended her hand out, and noticed there was a shadowy aura around her. She focused her new power and summoned a Shadow version of herself. "Well… this is new."

Neptune looked at her colleague's new power and realized. _'It's gonna be my turn next… but… do I really want to work with Arfoire.'_ She thought to herself. She knew that the harsh reality was going to bite her one day but she surely wouldn't be able to accept it all things. _'Arfoire… You're a Nightmare I'll never accept.'_ The scenery slowly started to restore itself. The sky slowly turned back to its usual grey, and despite some destroyed structures and injured people, Lastation reverted back to its usual self. As luck would have it, the Basilicom they were in was connected to the real Basilicom, so luckily enough, they didn't need to do much walking to get back to where they were.

"Well, that takes care of that." Black Heart said, as both she and Neptune reverted back to their human forms.

"I guess that was really convenient. No way was I gonna be too energetic to walk all the way back here." Neptune said. She then noticed Histoire was right back at her side. "Oh, Histy! You're safe!"

"I've been here the whole time, Neptune, until I felt the both of you disappear suddenly. What exactly happened out there?" She asked. Neptune and Noire gave both of their accounts of what happened to Histoire, including the subduing of Black Heart's Nightmare, as she showcased her new power to Histoire. Neptune, however, didn't want to tell Histoire about seeing Arfoire as she was revealed. "I see… so the Nightmare has fused with Noire… that means her own problems are solved."

"There wasn't a need to fight the Nightmare. Accepting it was the only way." Noire said. "I noticed it didn't lift a finger against me until it felt threatened. Neptune… maybe a more softer approach would suffice."

"Ehe, yeah, sure. Lastation's problems are done for now. Histy and I are gonna head back to the hotel. You'll probably see me back in Planeptune soon." Neptune said, before turning around and trying to exit. "Later, Noire!" She waved.

Until suddenly, she felt something grab the back of her neck. "Hold it right there, Neptune."

"W-what?" She turned, only to see one outstretched black hand with Noire standing on the other side of the room.

"I'm not done with you yet!" She said, before she went for her throat, grabbing it firmly.

"GWAH! AGH! LET ME GO, NOIRE!" Neptune yelled, but Noire's Nightmare reeled Neptune in. She tried to fight back, but the Nightmare was too strong for Neptune. Once Noire was in close proximity with Neptune, she used her own hand to choke her.

"Listen, you little ingrate."

"H-hehe, ingrate. Been using your pretentious word-of-the-day calendar I bought you, huh?" The response only earned her an even harder choking.

"SHUT, YOUR, MOUTH, NEPTUNE! You have caused the other CPUs, ME INCLUDED, so much trouble! Your incessant and obviously unplanned actions have caused panic to the citizens, and worst of all, you are going on a SUICIDE MISSION!" She yelled at her face.

"A-haha… well, one upside is we got you a really strong Nightmare that's about to crush my throat! NO, SERIOUSLY, let go of my throat!" Neptune pleaded, but the force of Noire choking her forced her down to one knee.

"Well, since you wanna die so badly, I'll gladly oblige!" Noire yelled. The moment Neptune was forced down to her knees, she let go of her. Noire did a quick spin before attempting a buzzsaw kick aimed right at her head, but despite her weakened state, Neptune managed to see it coming and grabbed her leg. "W-what the?!"

"Haha! Gotcha, Noire!" In a swift move, Neptune tripped Noire and locked her in an STF. "Get ready for the Nep Lock!" She said, as she locked her arms around Noire's neck. Using her legs, she pulled Noire's left leg, causing Noire's body to bend backwards.

"OOOOOW! LET GO OF ME, NEPTUNE!" Noire cried out in pain. She quickly summoned her Nightmare to grab her off of Noire. Neptune saw this and quickly let her go before she was grabbed. The both of them recovered just in time for both of them to draw their guns out and point it at each other's heads. Both of them pressed right into the other's forehead. It seemed their rivalry had come down to this.

"Your move, Neptune." Noire said as she pushed her gun on Neptune's head, forcing the Planeptune Goddess to push back.

"I'll pull the trigger if I have to, Noire!" Neptune threatened.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" Histoire yelled at the both of them. "The demon and Nightmare problems haven't been resolved yet and here you are arguing amongst each other! STOP IT!"

"Hey, she attacked me first, on both occasions at that!" Neptune argued.

"You annoyed me with your actions, on BOTH occasions!"

"Yeah, well…" Before she could give her rebuttal, Neptune heard a beeping sound. "Whoops, sorry, timeout." She said, holstering her gun. Noire, out of disbelief, was forced to holster hers as well. She whipped out her N-Gear, looked at the screen and noticed that her message icon had a '1' pop-up next to it and clicked it. The message happened to be a video message from a familiar sender. She clicked it and on the screen popped up the masked figure. "Iffy…"

"I don't need to hide my voice. I think you know who I am at this point." IF started to speak, taking the mask off of her face. "Nep, I think it's time you and I had a face-to-face chat. Go to the old playground. I'm sure you know where that is. One of my associates will meet you there. I'll see you soon, Nep." She said, as the video ended. Neptune quickly closed her N-Gear and packed it away in her pocket.

"Sorry, Noire, but now I've got no time to play with you. Urgent matters to attend to! I'll catch you later! Come on, Histy!" She signaled. The tome quickly followed Neptune.

"Hey, wait!" Noire called out, but Neptune slammed the door shut before she could do anything. "Damn it… oh well, she did me a favor at least." She said, looking at her own Nightmare. "So… ready to help me with paperwork?"

**0**

"Made it… now who the hell am I supposed to wait for?" Neptune said the moment she reached the old Lastation Playground. It used to be Neptune's, Compa's, and IF's hangout every time they were here. Though now IF happens to be spreading propaganda and Compa was nowhere to be found. She sat on the swing and waited. 5 minutes later, she changed positions, sitting on the slide. For every 5 minutes she waited, she kept changing stations, from the see-saw to the empty sandbox. All she could do was keep waiting. "Urgh… where the hell is Iffy? Or, whoever's supposed to meet me here anyways?" She asked, standing up to look around again. She thought that perhaps, right on cue, they would show up. Unfortunately she felt utter disappointment being etched on her face when no one came around. "Ugh, waiting here is like being stuck on a loading screen on a really badly programmed game."

"Perhaps we should wait a bit longer. Maybe they might show up." Histoire suggested. Neptune only responded with a frustrated sigh.

"Forget it. If Iffy wants to see me, she can find me at the hotel. I'm tired of waiting." She said, walking off to get back to the hotel. Right as she did though, she found herself surrounded suddenly. Soldiers with masks, red goggles, holding rifles pointed at her surrounded her and she was right in the middle of the circle with Histy. "What the hell?"

"How did I not sense them at all?" Histy said.

"DON'T MOVE! HANDS IN THE AIR!" One of the soldiers commanded, forcing Neptune and Histoire to follow.

"Don't make any sudden movements, Histy…"

"Shut the hell up! The Captain is here." Another soldier yelled at her. The two soldiers in front of her moved away. Neptune then saw someone else incoming. She couldn't make out who it was in the dark, but once she heard the person's voice, she immediately knew who it was.

"Sorry, Nep-Nep, did I scare you?"

**0**

**To Be Continued**

**0**


	6. Angels, Demons, Nightmares and Neptunes

**Goddess in the Echo**

**By MidniteBleuCrusader**

Summary: (AU) A lost Planeptune, a Goddess denounced. Neptune seeks to find out the truth behind her lost landmass, as well as who was behind all this. With the help of Compa and IF, Neptune hopes to find all the answers, by any means necessary.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hyperdimension Neptunia or any of its characters.

Author's Notes: If you happen to have any sort of questions about what's going on and are confused, please don't be. It's an AU.

**Chapter 6: Between Angels, Demons, Nightmares and Neptunes**

Neptune was in utter shock when she heard the voice, and her name being called out in such a manner only served to prove who it was. "It's just me, Nep-Nep, don't stand there with your hanging like that." Without any hesitation whatsoever, Neptune ran over to her and gave her a huge hug.

"COMPAAAA! Oh my god, where have you been? Who're these scary looking people with you anyways? I was about to give them a piece of my mind!"

"Them? They're with the Unit so it's fine." Compa immediately turned her attention to the soldiers, giving them the signal to stand down. "Stand down, guys." She ordered. Compa's word was acknowledged and as such the soldiers stood down, returning to where they came from.

"Wow, since when did Compa have so much power, controlling an army like that? That's a red alert in my book."

"Don't be silly, Nep-Nep. There's nothing to be alarmed about. These guys are working for the Heretics Unit, as am I." Compa said which once again brought about alarm bells in her head.

"Sooooo… Heretics Unit, huh? Is that like some sort of club or something? Do I, like, get 30 months free of subscription fees or something?" Compa could only giggle at Neptune's musings.

"No, silly. The Heretics Unit is a group dedicated to combating demons and Nightmares… but we probably shouldn't talk about something like this in the open. Let me take you to the Heretics Unit's HQ. It'll be safer." Compa said. She signaled for her soldiers to follow her. They fell in line and marched off behind her. Neptune stood there for a while to ponder but ultimately, she followed the soldiers behind Compa.

**0**

Neptune was led straight to an abandoned technological park with Compa leading the pack. She led the soldiers away from the entrance before leading Neptune into the building.

"Is this some sort of giant Basilicom that you've made or something? There's a lotta security in here." Neptune said, noticing all the security cameras and a guard at every corner.

"It's the first underground Basilicom, made by Iffy, me and… well, you'll see." Compa said, as she moved a part of the wall, revealing a hidden electronic door, complete with face sensors and voice recognition system. She stepped in front, getting her face scanned. The system recognized her face. Neptune then heard another voice.

"Password required." The system asked.

"There are no Goddesses." Compa replied, in which the system accepted, opening the door for her. "Come on, Nep-Nep." She urged.

'_Nice password, Iffy…_' Neptune thought, following Compa into the base. Neptune took a look around. Monitors, taking the feed from security cameras all over Lastation and also on the other landmasses, were being watched closely by fellow heretics. Computers were showing massive amounts of data, too much for Neptune to comprehend. As they went in, Neptune noticed that the place started to look all too familiar. "So… underground Basilicom, huh? It looks a lot like any other Basilicom."

"That's because it is, Nep-Nep, except the only 'Goddess' in here is Iffy, though she doesn't want to be called that." Once they reached a rather massive door, Compa turned to face Neptune. "I wonder what Iffy's going to say once she meets you again."

"Nothing and she'll probably try to kill me." Neptune said, which brought a giggle out of Compa.

"We'll see." She said as she opened the door for her. "Go on in. She's waiting." Neptune took her step before Compa said, "Oh, by the way… It's great to see you again, Nep-Nep."

"Heh, it's good to see you too." Neptune replied, stopping into the room letting Compa shut the door. Once in, Neptune saw the mask that she's been seeing for some time on those vignettes she's been watching on TV. In the middle of that room, however, stood the one person she could recognize. The blue nine-brand coat, the pouches, the green leafy bow and the long hair were all too recognizable to her. "Sup, Iffy?" was the only greeting she gave.

"Rash, absurd and stupid. Everything that describes your actions, Neptune." IF replied, turning to look at her. "Yet somehow I think your stupid ambitions are going to pay off."

"Hooray, someone actually thinks my ideas are gonna work." She falsely celebrated. "Though, what's with the whole 'Unit' deal, Iffy? I'm confused just as much as the next person. Why slander the Goddesses?"

"Wow, Neptune. That's the first logical thing you've asked me all year." IF said with a slight smile on her face. "Yes, on paper, we're a Unit that slanders the Goddesses as a front, bringing the faith for the Goddesses down. At this point, it's not like it's faith that you guys need… of course, I'm sure you already know about that. The demons aren't afraid of Goddesses and your Nightmares get stronger as you get stronger."

"I know it all too well, Iffy."

"In reality, we're studying the demons, learning their nature, their roots… and of course, learning how to defeat them." IF said as she moved closer to her. "I need your help, Neptune. Together we can beat these demons. For your sake and for humankind."

"That's all fine and dandy, Iffy, but…" Neptune glared at her. "You DID say the demons would follow me wherever I go, right?" IF nodded.

"There's nothing to worry about. The demons seem to dislike holy establishments. This false Basilicom is one of them, completely sealed off from demons. This base itself especially. No demons can go in, or any demons we capture can go out." She assured, but Neptune could only cross her arms for this next statement.

"Then you said us Goddesses couldn't do anything about this situation. What drove you to saying that, Iffy?"

"Well…" IF looked away for a second, turning the direction her head went and then clasping her hands together. "It's all propaganda, Neptune. Propaganda moves people. Tell one thing here, tell another wise saying there and then you tell a little white lie somewhere else. You tell something many times over, people tend to believe it. Why else would people believe us?"

"You're just doing the ASIC thing now." IF quickly moved toward Neptune, slightly insulted.

"Do not compare us to ASIC, Neptune. Our cause is just and true. ASIC's was cruel and selfish. You don't know how many demons there are out there right now."

"I'm more than aware of that Iffy. It's all fine and dandy now but that's not gonna get me ANY closer to reviving Planeptune." She responded firmly. IF wanted to give her rebuttal, but could only let out a sigh of frustration. She wasn't about to give up hope, though.

"At least… give me a chance to show you." She asked of her. Neptune looked her straight in the eye, but she finally agreed to let her.

**0**

IF and Compa took Neptune to another location, away from the safety of the Heretic Unit's Underground Basilicom. The place wasn't too far, yet not too near, to it. IF led the anti-goddess into an abandoned Lastation hotel, complete with the rusted gate, dead bushes and flowers and uneven walkway. IF opened the gate to let them in. "I need you to see this. That's why I brought you here. Compa knows of this as well and she's been vital to all of our efforts."

"Gee, sure picked a rather ominous place for us to rekindle our relationship, Iffy." Neptune's snarky comments showed up.

"Only the best for you, Neptune. The person inside this building is currently suffering. She may need your help if she's to survive." She said, leading her into a room filled with machines and a control panel. "I'm going to set up for today's test… Compa, I need you to get the subject again."

"Iffy, she barely survived yesterday's test. Are you sure it's right to run her through another one so soon?" Compa questioned with a concerned look on her face.

"It's only logical, Compa. Yesterday was a close call, but we came even closer to taming her Nightmare. We can defeat it today." IF said, but the term 'Nightmare' caught Neptune's ear.

"Wait, this subject of yours has a Nightmare she won't accept?"

"Not exactly, Nep. As of now, this has become a rather delicate situation. Usually, what you explained would be a common occurrence. People not accepting Nightmares, everyone's heard of that, but Nightmares not accepting their Hosts? That itself is a phenomenon. Everyone usually thinks Nightmares are just apparitions, ghosts of people's pasts that they wished not to relive. When the past comes back to haunt them in the form of their Nightmares, human nature teaches them to refuse it because they refuse to relive the past." IF explained to Neptune, and the purple-haired anti-Goddess had a semi-full grasp of it.

"Well, yeah, people not accepting their pasts is common, but how does a Nightmare not accept a Host?"

"When a Nightmare is too powerful even for its Host, the Host faces much backlash. The Host loses control of his or her body and is soon engulfed by the Nightmare's actions. That's what the subject's feeling right now." IF quickly turned to look at Compa. "Compa, go get the subject. I'll stand by here and set up for the final experiment."

"How do you know it's going to be final experiment, Iffy?" That question was immediately answered by IF looking at Neptune.

"We have Nep with us. I'm sure the subject would be more than motivated to tame her Nightmare." The statement nearly caught Neptune off-guard. IF actually giving Neptune due recognition was rare, even for her.

"Follow me, Nep-Nep." Compa said, prompting Neptune to follow the nurse in training.

Compa led Neptune to the 2nd floor of the 5 story hotel. The stairs creaked as they went up, which meant that they had to be extra careful as they went up. The structural integrity of the building was more than gone. That meant any sudden movements and the building would collapse at any time. Thanks to IF's quick thinking, she and Compa repaired only the most important parts of the building before moving in with the equipment. IF was still not afraid to get her hands dirty. She didn't really care about the rest of the building.

"So, who's this subject of yours, huh?" Neptune broke the silence.

"You'll see." Compa's replied, reaching a door at the end of the hallway. She knocked on the door and spoke, "Can I come in?"

"Y-yes, Compa." The voice inside stuttered, as if too weak to even speak. Compa opened the door, Neptune following her. Her curiosity peaked when she heard the voice as it seemed eerily familiar to her. It was only confirmed when she and Compa entered.

"It's time, Ge-Ge." The words that left Compa's mouth just confirmed it. As Neptune saw the subject, she was in a state of shock. Sitting down on the floor, bruised and battered, was Planeptune's CPU candidate, Nepgear. Neptune's emotions quickly took over as she ran in and hugged her sister.

"N-Neptune? Y-you're alive…!" Nepgear stuttered, her voice was so soft only Neptune could hear it.

"Ssh… yes, I'm alive… and I'm glad you are, Nep Jr." Neptune uttered. She was fighting to keep her tears back from escaping her eyes. "I thought I lost you on Planeptune, goddamnit. I'm just glad you're still okay…" Neptune slowly let go of her sister. Within an instant, however, her joy turned into anger as she turned right around, grabbing Compa by the collar and pinning her to the wall. "You… WHY didn't you tell me this earlier, Compa!"

"Ah! L-listen, Nep-Nep! If we told you right off the bat, you wouldn't have helped us!" The response only further angered Neptune, forcing her up the wall with more pressure.

"And you thought keeping it a secret from me was a good idea, Compa? What, has joining the Unit completely messed up your brain? What the hell is wrong with you, Compa! I thought you were my friend!"

Right as she was about to further threaten Compa, Nepgear pulled her own sister away, pleading with her to stop.

"Sis, wait, please! Compa's been doing her best to help me! T-this isn't her fault at all, sis! Please, just let her show you!" Nepgear pleaded, forcing Neptune to calm down. Hearing the pleading tones of her sister help quell some of that anger. Though she was trying to restrain herself from punching Compa right in the face, Neptune let it slide this time, but with a warning.

"You screw this up, Compa, I'll cut your throat out."

"We won't, Nep-Nep. We'll make sure of it." Compa said, turning around to head outside. "I'll… let you two have a moment." Once she stepped outside, she shut the door, leaving the two Planeptune people alone in the room. Neptune was still seething slightly over the fact that her own two best friends decided to hide something like this to her. She remembered what IF said to her. Nepgear, Neptune's sister, the subject of this 'experiment', had a Nightmare that wouldn't accept her. If this went on it would potentially overtake her body. Neptune could only look at her sister and just give her a sigh of frustration.

"Neptune… it'll be all right. IF and Compa have been doing this to me for a couple of weeks now. We're close to destroying what we need to destroy… so could you trust Compa and IF? Please?" Nepgear said in a persuasive tone. Neptune couldn't object any longer. Her reluctant sigh says otherwise, but she couldn't delay this any longer.

"Nep Jr., if you die today, I'll kill you myself."

**0**

**To Be Continued**

**0**


End file.
